h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"I have heard of companies which think that a lack of a Facebook profile is suspicious behaviour"

I've heard of companies that use handwriting analysis to make hiring decisions. I've even heard of companies where they allow the performing chimps from the HR department input on the hiring decisions. I wouldn't want to work for any such company, and I pity anyone whose options are so limited that they have to apply to such places.

A friend of mine was asked for a sample of his handwriting two hours into an all-day assessment process. He inquired as to why, and on being informed that it was going to be used to analyse his personality, he immediately stood up, berated the interviewer for wasting his time, and left.

Just because some people are morons doesn't mean everyone has to be a moron.

{... he immediately stood up, berated the interviewer for wasting his time, and left}

Typical Capricorn. I wouldn't have hired him anyway.

I'm definitely in the camp where I acknowledge that you really can't or shouldn't stand up to bullies as that makes things worse.

However, as a woman I do get sick and tired of being told how not to get raped. There is one way to stop rape: stop raping. Not going to happen but - when we make it clear just what rape actually is, the borderline cases can be dealt with very effectively (along the lines of speaking to the rapists: if she's drunk she can't consent etc etc)

I'm pretty sure that campaigning along those lines, awareness raising if you like, will help those who don't (or can't) connect the screen name that they are abusing with a real person then with luck the low-level constant harassment and bullying will be cut down.

I remember from my school experiences, the big things were strangley easier to handle, but the constant low-level stuff wore me down to a crying wreck.

I don't think the individual who is bullied/harassed/threatened should be the one to confront whoever is doing it to them

They should be able to report it to appropriate people who should deal with it for them.

Call me a cynical pragmatist, but comments like this really annoy me:

"There is one way to stop rape: stop raping. Not going to happen but ..."

Yeah, and there's one way to stop overpopulation: stop people from having sex at all. And there's a simple problem to rampant obesity: stop eating too much.

What is the point of regaling us with your genius solution to a problem if you're going, in basically the same breath, to admit it's not going to work? You know it's a stupid thing to say, we know it's a stupid thing to say. The reasons it's stupid and not going to work are so obvious you didn't even feel the need to list them. So why say it? Don't you feel the slightest bit of embarrassment typing such a lame argument?

ah Hoo, you're lovely but did you read what i said? I said that people who do the really bad stuff will do it anyway. But if you point out to the not bad people, the sheep who follow, those who haven't thought through then you can stop quite a lot of the bad stuff.

And as HI said, the current generation of teenagers are the first who have really grown up in this online world. So we are all feeling our way.

TBH I do feel that unless you are actually confronted by this stuff yourself it is really difficult to get a handle on it. My #1 said, in reply to my question about how people talk to her on Ask.fm, that one or two are mean but she blocks and/or ignores them. The youth are learning how to handle it.

They've just interviewed a couple of teenagers about their activities on ask.fm

one of them said that although he had received some quite awful messages (about the death of his brother) but that he didn't leave the site because he quite liked being able to make comments etc. It seems quite difficult for some of these teenagers to actually leave the site.

What we all need is a strategy but I think we won't have an effective one until they are all grown up and we can see how the internet really works.

"It seems quite difficult for some of these teenagers to actually leave the site"

The clear implication there is simply that it can't be that bad, then, eh? 'How's the beer?'... 'Terrible, I'll be glad when I've had enough.'

Online interactions have just the one important difference from interactions in person, in that you can switch them off instantly and permanently IF YOU WANT TO. If you don't want to, then you're within your rights, I guess. You're within your rights if you want to stick your hand in a blender or bang your head against a wall, too.

The victim blaming is getting

I don't think we have to wait till the teenagers grow up at all.

Already we are addressing the issues of and solutions to cyber bullying with teenagers and for young people. While cyber bullying is is fairly new but at least there has been a huge change in attitude towards bullying in schools for instance, shifting from it being a rite of passage to something that is not acceptable, we are coming from that start point.


Also recognising the seriousness of cyber stalking and harassment putting them on a par with the same behaviours that occur offline.

Boundaries are being drawn, moving away from this is something you have to put with it is just the cost of online interaction.

Twitter have been forced to review how they deal with these issues and as people do get arrested and prosecuted, or face other consequences a wider message will filter through.

"A friend of mine was asked for a sample of his handwriting two hours into an all-day assessment process. He inquired as to why, and on being informed that it was going to be used to analyse his personality, he immediately stood up, berated the interviewer for wasting his time, and left. Just because some people are morons doesn't mean everyone has to be a moron"[Hoovooloo]

Kudos to your friend, and to you for mentioning it.

"performing chimps from the HR department"

I'll have you know that I do not perform for anybody.

But on topic... I think threats need to be taken seriously, whatever their source. Not taken seriously to the extent that people get arrested for using their 140 characters to be a grade A 24-carat wally, but certainly that a decent record should be kept of such behaviour (assuming it's reported, obviously...) so a decent case can be built if necessary.

I am also a great believer in the principle of not teaching women not to get raped, but teaching men in general not to rape... in terms of just generally educating us as early as possible about how sex works beyond the merely biological, and important stuff like consent. Sex education rarely, if ever, teaches about consent, or emotion, or agreeing boundaries before things get too heated, and that, I believe, is a big contributor to the notion that force and coercion are acceptable behaviours, not because we're taught that they are, but because we're not taught they they're aren't... "it doesn't say I can't do it in the rulebook."

Surely threats can only be taken seriously IF the participants are actually known to each other in RL?

Anyway I think it's up to parents to limit their child's internet time and activities.Too many parents think they can just leave their children to it,failing entirely to research the places their children visit or to even discuss what to do if their offspring do come across nasty people online or even really nice people who may not be who they appear to be.

After all the discussion on online bullying and grooming has been taking place in school for at least the past 5 years.How many cases have there been in the media about online grooming and still children are getting caught out?
Parents really should stop expecting the government and others to take over what is basically their own responsibility.

I think parents have to make themselves interweb savvy so they can advise, supervise, and ask the right questions and know what discussions to have with the offspring.


I think though that sites like Twitter and Facebook have a responsibility to have systems in place to deal with bullying and harassment. Sites that allow children on them should have definite child protection policies and safe guarding practises

The government also have a responsibly to see that the law is applied and either new laws are introduced or old ones updated to tackle cyber crime

I am uncomfortable with these statements 'After all the discussion on online bullying and grooming has been taking place in school for at least the past 5 years.How many cases have there been in the media about online grooming and still children are getting caught out?
Parents really should stop expecting the government and others to take over what is basically their own responsibility.'

Are you saying that it is the child and parents fault if they are groomed online?

The view from this chair says Yes it is, mainly, parents' responsibility.

If you want the government to watch it all closely enough then expect your taxes to rise.
Similarly perhaps you should expect an entrance fee to those sites.
Without paying those supervisory costs then you're back to parents reporting incidents to the proper authority.

My own opinion is that we wouldn't get rid of such bullying behaviour without *everyone losing a little more freedom/self determination...

hmmm, well you won't get rid of bullying behaviour, what you can do is deal with as it as it happens to limit the damage and also shift the culture, as it used to be in school bullying was an ingrained part of school culture and growing now it is not seen that way.

Now parents have a responsibility to a point but there comes a time you have to give your child privacy and independence, just as you let them go out with their friends.

I am queasy at the suggestion that it is anyone's fault other the person who is doing the grooming.

Neither am I saying that the government has be involved at such a micro level Rod just that they are the ones that ultimately responsible for providing a legal framework to deal with crimes on the net.

growing up

it's the parents responsiblity to bring up their children not to troll / make threats and how to handle them. Sure.

But society is everybody's responsibility.

And all those of you saying shrug it off. Have any of you been bullied online? People have tried that on me and it's not fun - even as an adult and even with moderators helping (haha, and I was a mod at the time, it comes with the territory sometimes)

Yes, moderation and technology are the best weapons to fight it. If I walked into a pub and started winding up the regulars, I'd be barred. Why should it be any different on a social networking site?

Because the regulars can choose not to go to the pub, apparently...